The analysis of competency model for a performance appraisal system in the management of food service industry

This paper presents a competency model as an instrument for restaurant management. The research showed that existing appraisal methods, such as KPI and 360-degree feedback method, are difficult to apply during evaluating the performance of non-managerial employees (waiters). Test method comes with several shortcomings too but using competency model can make this method more effective. Competency model allows for combining various assessment results and forming an employee profile, which is constructing and storing in a computer system. Previous research demonstrated effectiveness of model and some problems of its using like source data purity. In this paper test questions’ balance and the reasons of collective mistakes are researched. Experiments were conducted using employee profiles data. Results from these experiments confirmed that the model can improve restaurant management but there are some problems and features of its using. It is important to provide test questions balance and source data purity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Caste morphology and development in Termitogeton nr. planus (Insecta, Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

The termite family Rhinotermitidae displays a wide diversity in its patterns of social organization in castes. The genus Termitogeton probably branched off early in the evolution of this family. We studied the developmental pathways of a putative undescribed species from New Guinea, Termitogeton nr planus. The development begins with two white inactive instars (larvae), the second of which possesses small wing buds. These are followed by a relatively homogenous group of active immature stages (pseudergates) among which a biometric study revealed the presence of four instars. The first of these instars possesses wing buds that regress at subsequent molts. The external morphology of older instars resembles that of higher termite workers. Older pseudergates can differentiate into presoldiers and then into soldiers, but they are also able to molt into a unique stage with long wing pads (nymph), preceding the imago. Colony maturity can be reached with about 103 individuals. The sex ratio is near 1:1 in all castes except soldiers, among which females are more numerous than males. The caste pattern of T. nr. planus is reminiscent of those of the Kalotermitidae and Termopsidae, and of Prorhinotermes among the Rhinotermitidae. None of these taxa possess a true worker caste, permanently diverted from imaginal development: social tasks are done by unspecialized immatures that retain a full array of developmental options, including that of proceeding to the imago. The most remarkable trait of T. nr. planus is the presence in all second-instar individuals of wing buds that later regress to reappear in the single nymphal stage. We suggest that the traditional definitions of the terms larvae, nymphs, and pseudergates should be revised because they cannot be satisfactorily applied to the castes of Termitogeton. J. Morphol. 255:69–79, 2003. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.FLWINinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Coming out of the woods: Do termites need a specialized worker caste to search for new food sources?

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Sexual communication in the termite Prorhinotermes simplex (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae) mediated by a pheromone from female tergal glands

We studied the post-flight behavior and sex attraction in imagoes of the termite Prorhinotermes simplex (Rhinotermitidae, Prorhinotermitinae). Pairing is mediated by the secretion from tergal glands, exposed by females in a calling posture and highly attractive to males. Analysis of extracts of these glands by means of gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection indicated a chromatographic area corresponding to an intense physiological response of males. The retention characteristics of this area proved to be identical with those of (3Z,6Z,8E)-dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol. Electroantennographic and behavioral assays revealed that units of picograms of the compound represent a stimulus qualitatively and quantitatively equivalent to one female tergal gland. Thus, we hypothesize that (3Z,6Z,8E)-dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol is a major component of the female sex pheromone in P. simplex. © 2009 Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel/Switzerland.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Trail and teritorial communication in social insects

The social properties of insect colonies are sometimes described in seemingly contradictory terms. As pinnacles of biological complexity they are superorganisms and their emergent, colony-level characteristics are often referred to in terms of their elaborate and sophisticated nature. Yet the mechanisms that mediate social interactions and group phenomena, after empirical or theoretical analysis, are simple and parsimonious. This complexity-mediated-by-simplicity paradigm provides a heuristic approach to the analysis of the basic behavioral characteristics of the individual members of an insect society and the regulatory mechanisms of cooperative response, which are the fundamental elements from which colony level behavior is derived. Inevitably, the dissection and reconstruction of insect social organization involves semiochemicals, because the principal sensory modality of integration, social coordination, and assembly of colony-level patternsis olfaction